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Power to the People! Take that NFL!

There seems to have been a gathering storm with wind and rain sweeping over our coasts and laying waste to our fruited plains. Never have I seen such a sense of dread and foreboding. With all the dirt and divisiveness of the election, with all the name calling and animosity of the last couple of years in Congress, many felt that our union was irrevocably torn, and not since the Civil War have we faced such a self-inflicted crisis, a crisis that threatens the very foundation of our union.

However and happily, I awoke this morning to blue skies, moderate temperatures and a gentle zephyr of a breeze. Today, because we are more united than divided and can find ways of working together, I am filled with hope. Red States and Blue, Left and Right, Republicans and Democrats all came together to save the National Football League from itself. Anti-union Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and pro-union legislators in Wisconsin got together to condemn the scab officiating that cost The Green Bay Packers the game on Monday. Veep candidate Ryan and Mitt Romney joined in common cause (though not Common Cause) with President Obama to call for an end to the lockout of the professional (and competent) officials.

All over this great land of ours (except in over-caffeinated Seattle, the beneficiary of this incompetence) the people came together, and across the partisan political lines, in one voice shouted at the NFL: Shame! Our voices united made all the difference. I would point out, with only slight irony, that this is as united as we have been since 9-11.

Now it would be easy (and is tempting) to mock all this as something minor, irrelevant and proof of just how distracted we are by trivia. We could show our disdain for the American People for uniting around sports and entertainment and not the truly critical issues of war, of peace and of the environment. We could decry the shallowness of caring more passionately about our sports than the political health of our nation.

These are all valid points. However, it is also important to affirm the power of the people when we are moved, when we cross the lines to come together for something we care about. There are more important issues than sports but the lesson of the week is that when we feel involved, we can move mountains. The great question, therefore, that our leaders should be asking is how to present important issues in ways that bring us together. We will come together when we care. Please leaders of parties and causes, help us care about our nation, our environment and each other.
2012 Jonathan Dobrerwww.Dobrer.com

A little humor with your large dose of common sense, which most of us don’t seem to possess.

I think it is sad when a game, whatever kind, is more important than the fate of this nation and people are more incensed with poor officiating than they are with terrorist attacks that kill Americans.

Thanks for an eye-opening article that most won’t see because they are texting.